…as such, a reply to the previous post was much better than the post itself. (And you thought I was talking about the new Batman movie, didn’t you?)

Thanks to Chris for allowing us to display it so that all may enjoy.

* * *

I’ve been raiding Work for only about four years, now, but I’ve picked up some useful tidbits that keep me from going OOM (out of mind). For starters, Work can only be attacked when everyone else is attacking it. Depending on the location of encounter for work, be it the Swamp of Paperwork, the Chasm of Shipping and Receiving, or the Labyrinth of Manufacturing (40 man), times of attack will vary. The LoM can be run most times, assuming continuous uptime, whereas the SoP and CoSaR only really activate between the hours of 8 and 5, local time. Remember to show up early for your run, and expect to stay late. Bring consumables, though you may be able to take a break midway through.

Work generally enters a stun period every so many days, and while it may be tempting to attack, take note that Work (and consequently the Hound of a Million Managers) takes no damage while stunned. You are better off resting, yourself.

Work can crit, and does often. Crushing blows are unavoidable. It never misses. It has a hojillion and six hit points. The encounter historically takes 30 years, but recent patches to character banking systems ensure that the Work fight is more likely to last 50 years, if it ends at all. There has been significant call for a change to this system, but the administrators are too busy counting the money they don’t have to do anything about it, so stop bothering them.

Another note - most people have various degrees of a Vacation spell. It’s important to use this spell strategically and not just every time it’s off cooldown, as you only get so many charges per year. Fortunately, the spell eventually levels up through Greater AFK, though by that time you’ll likely have spawned several alts of your own, each of whom is more demanding than your main, limiting your rest experience.

Most importantly, as with many things, HAVE FUN! Most people can only level their characters to level 80 or so before a forced delete. While this may seem like a lot of time, World of Lifecraft levels tend to go quicker the higher up you get, so don’t sweat the small stuff.

I’ll tell you where!

Ego has been detained by “Work”. Said entity has been demanding much more of her time lately and sadly, the Ego Corp has not yet formulated a successful strategy for removing this burden from Ego’s shoulders.

Another raid upon the “Work” creature is tentatively scheduled to occur in the next few days. Hopefully soon after you readers will again be able to read the exploits of Tayt.

Until then.

I still don’t have this week’s post ready.

It takes about three times as long to get a story post done in the first place, plus I’ve needed a lot of help with plotting to get Tayt headed in the direction I want her to go.

Also, I found out a long time ago that I really need a calm, quiet, free-of-distractions environment in order to write well. Turns out that the library works for that far better than my own cat/book/toy/stuff/food/husband/gaming strewn living room.

That is, with the exception of days when the library’s free wireless internet is down and nobody tells me until I’ve wasted twenty minutes trying to get my laptop to connect. (I write on an Asus Eee, for anyone interested. Before you ask, yes, I have small hands).

Oh, and then finding out that the library computer I chose has a fifteen minute limit on it - just long enough for me to get good and into the story before an irritating warning pops up, telling me I should save my work. And the other computer has a 30 minute limit. And then there’s the gaggle of wet-swimsuit-clad anklebiters running around the computer area and squealing - that doesn’t help either.

So the bit I did get written will have to be thrown out, because the intense irritation and frustration I felt during that writing session colored what I wrote.

Shocking, no?

Then I had the best weekend ever (even if the hibachi restaurant and IMAX theater had wireless internet, I wouldn’t have used it), followed up by helping a friend move tonight.

I can count on the fingers of one foot how much time is going to be spent writing before tomorrow afternoon.

Hope y’all are well. Oh, and don’t take Hannelore too seriously. She’s obviously just jealous.

A lot has been said about how terrible it is to get a bunch of random people together with the intention of rampaging through a dungeon for fun and profit. So much so, that I’m going to avoid it. If you want to hear terribad moments of doom, there’s lots of other people that have their horror stories. Me? I make good pick-up-groups. Not often…but it happens. I’ll focus on those.

My people haven’t made it this far, through so much, by dwelling on how other people have ruined it for us!

So, hey, the whole ‘tank’ situation. Very poo. No one wants to be a meatshield. All the ones that used to be meatshields have decided it’s more fun to go rampaging off by themselves, or are employed by the big guilds. Either way, no meatshields. You can hear the barkers in the cities and all over, crying out for someone to come take the hits and lead the way. But who wants to do that?

I mean, look at what you’re really asking. You say “I just want someone to tank!” Yeah, well, you most certainly are not. Almost every time I’ve seen this come up, the poor sap has been conscripted into leading the group, too. So the rogue who was pushing and pushing, getting everyone together, and pulling the group into a cohesive unit suddenly hands over authority to this new person who was suckered in last. Not only are you now the focus of pain for every sharp object flying at us, Mister Warrior, you are the focus of ire and irritation whenever you don’t do what the group assumed you were going to do!

Yay!

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